Eunice de Souza was a prominent Indian poet and critic who was known for her insightful and deeply personal poetry that explored themes of love, loss, and identity.
Born in Bombay in 1940, de Souza was educated at St. Xavier's College and later received her MA in English literature from the University of Bombay. She began her career as a teacher and later worked as a freelance writer, contributing articles and reviews to various publications.
De Souza's poetry was marked by its wit, intelligence, and emotional depth. She wrote about the complexities of relationships, the pain of loss, and the search for identity in a rapidly changing world. Her poems often featured strong, independent women as their central characters, and she was known for her feminist perspective and her critique of traditional gender roles.
In addition to her poetry, de Souza was also a respected critic and academic. She wrote extensively about Indian literature and culture, and her work was widely published and anthologized. She received numerous awards and accolades for her contributions to literature, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Crossword Book Award, and the Padma Shri.
De Souza's work has been widely admired for its ability to capture the complexities of human experience in a way that is both relatable and thought-provoking. She remains an important figure in Indian literature and an inspiration to poets and writers everywhere.
de Souza, Eunice
Her poetry draws on her experiences of growing in a Goan Catholic Community. What makes her voice special is the lyrical precision combined with unabashed straight-talk. I wish I could be a Wise Woman smiling endlessly, vacuously like a plastic flower, saying Child, learn from me. . Xavier's College, Bombay 400 001, India. Even as a professor at S t.
Hermione Gonsalvez" reveals other aspects of nostalgia and of male oppression: In the good old days I had looks and colour now I've only got colour just look at my parents how they married me to a dark man on my own I wouldn't even have looked at him. Bombay, India Book House, 1973. I, sixteen, assured her you could. Education: University of Bombay, B. The project is thus fundamentally concerned with the question of artistic freedom versus narrow identity politics, a debate in which prominent writers like Salman Rushdie and Vikram Chandra have participated. She also questions rigid traditions of traditional Christianity in her work.
Eunice De Souza: The Woman Who Dominated The Poetry Skyline
But in the depth of her writing, de Souza tugs at the life strings. We encourage you to read our full. De Souza uses the form of the dramatic monologue here by introducing Father X. Most of these poems are in the form of dramatic monologues. Death Date, Time, Place. We're One Big Happy Family God Always Provides India will Suffer for her Wicked Ways these Hindu buggers got no ethics Pillar of the Church says the parish priest Lovely Catholic Family says Mother Superior the pillar's wife says nothing. Her father died when she was a young child, and difficulties related to this can surface in a traumatizing imagery of cutting, slashing, and sometimes self-laceration.
The entrenched biases of gender, class and caste, crucial determinants in the Indian matrimonial market, are succinctly captured in this list of pre-conditions that must be ruled out for the bride to be considered suitable. Here he is top left the one smiling. Beneath a fluent and knowing utterance there stir feelings of anger, confusion, and desolation. Eunice de Souza comments: The first poems I wrote were about what it was like to grow up in Poona, in a conservative Goan Roman Catholic milieu. I used to think, ugh. I like poems to be spare and economical. In different ways de Souza examines problems and uncertainties associated with color and with ethnic divergences.
Retrieved 3 October 2022. The opening poem, "Catholic Mother," focuses initially upon the father of a large Catholic family but then turns from apparent celebration of the male to the mother whose silence speaks volumes: Pillar of the Church says the parish priest Lovely Catholic Family says Mother Superior the pillar's wife says nothing. Dangerlok follows Rina Ferreira a middle-aged lecturer in English literature and poet as she negotiates life as a single woman in Mumbai. As a face, she reminded me of the benevolent sarcastic grand diva who flourished in her own personal space. It is clear that de Souza's brief inscriptions, often seemingly casual in their mode of delivery, are taut with repressed levels of deep anxiety. There are a number of poets whose work I feel close to, particularly the medieval saint poets in India and In her first collection, Fix, Eunice de Souza established herself as a writer of short poems in which a surface structure of controlled irony masks an often painful and violent subject matter. Especially noteworthy is her edited volume Nine Indian Women Poets 2001 in which she includes post-Independence writers on the basis of the range of their thematic and stylistic engagement with the idiom of poetry and seeks to rectify the often tokenistic representation of women poets in anthologies of Indian English poetry.
She pinned paper sleeves onto our sleeveless dresses. He says, take it as it comes, meaning, of course, as he hands it out. As she dramatizes these voices, de Souza's ear for the trick of speech in Anglicized middle-class Indians lends conviction to her portrayals. This is also to say that I read her poetry as a special place. The Vitals website is provided for your informational use only. D'Souza Father of the year. Such understatement is typical as de Souza, taught by Irish nuns in a convent school in Poona in Maharashtra state, brings an astringent wit to bear upon tensions and stresses that are in part a legacy of Portuguese colonialism.
Almost all her poems reveal her strong sense discomfort with patriarchal institutions. Did she utter her own lines at the final moment? At least she discerns in ballad writing qualities to which her own poetry can respond: "No cut to abstractions. That stare of perpetual surprise in those great green eyes will teach you to die alone. Born: Poona, 1 August 1940. We arrive an hour late: Poor dears, Like children waiting for a treat. The minor battles of everyday life and work in metropolitan Mumbai constitute the backdrop in which eccentric neighbours, uninspired colleagues, non-committal lovers, fiercely loyal friends and oddly amusing pets appear recurrently as characters. The speaker and her ilk are unapologetic about arriving late every Christmas, and smug in their infantilization of the poor — telling them what they can and cannot have.
I can hear his fat chuckle still. No, said the salesman, This is our God. Her major achievement has been providing a deep understanding of the contemporary social climate and gender relations. Bombay, India Book House, n. She started teaching at St.
Bombay, India Book House, n. Even this poem has forty-eight words too many. May there be mist and waterfalls Grass and flowers In the wrong season. She took on a teaching position at St. Some recommend stern standards, others say float along. De Souza has also been involved in theatre both as an actor and director.
